14 Books You Need to Read in February

February promises to bring no shortage of noteworthy and engrossing new reading, from Nobel laureate-authored fiction to new tomes on science and social history and a poignant memoir in memory of a modern-day fallen hero.

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'The Evening Road' by Laird Hunt

Told from the perspectives of three characters with distinct backgrounds and voices, Hunt's latest novel continues in the vein of his best-selling Kind One and Neverhome as it explores little-known stories of women at crucial moments in American history. Drawn to the town of Marvel to witness a lynching inspired by true events that took place in Marion, Indiana in August 1930, Ottie, Calla and Sally each experience the same horrific spectacle, but derive a unique and compelling interpretation therefrom.

A young woman travels to a remote seaside resort in Greece to find the husband from whom she is now separated—a fact only the couple knows—at the request of her controlling and uptight soon-to-be-ex-mother-in-law. Against an idyllic Mediterranean backdrop, the narrator discovers truths about her former partner that show how the power of the lives we've given up can still disturb the truths we take most for granted. Kitamura weaves a novel of quiet power, mostly due to a narrative voice that is so subtly commanding—so effortlessly self-aware and perceptive, teeming with dry yet empathetic humor—that it's a challenge not to follow her journey in a single sitting.

One of America's most celebrated yet secretive poets is brought to life in Marshall's new biography, based on a recently-discovered trove of Bishop's correspondence with lovers and her psychiatrist. In prose that reads with the intrigue of a novel, the author reveals previously unknown facets of Bishop's life, from her troubled childhood to a clandestine love affair.

A Miracle for Breakfast by Megan Marshall & Elizabeth Bishop, $21, amazon.com on February 7.

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'All Our Wrong Todays' by Elan Mastai

The premise alone of Mastai's dazzling debut novel is enough to catch our attention: set in a utopian 2016 magically devoid of the natural and manmade horrors of our current reality, the narrative follows the young Tom as he mistakenly finds himself in the alternate universe of the world as readers know it to be in the present day, which to Tom represents a horrifying dystopia. On top of this brilliant philosophical premise of parallel versions of one's life and the people in it—of what might have been had history unfolded differently—Mastai's language is also rife with an infectious humor you won't be able to stop reading.

After the unexpected death of his wife, Hunter Cady embarks on a journey across thecountry carrying her ashes in tow. Despite this premise of tragedy, however, the vivid romantic reminiscences and startling humor make McAllister's debut novel rather life-affirming. Finding himself suddenly bereft of both the companion and the life he'd planned to have forever, Hunter sets out on the brave expedition not only to endure his grief but to move forward in his life, thanks in large part to the motley and memorable fellow itinerants he encounters on the road.

The Young Widower's Handbook by Tom McAllister, $26, amazon.com on February 7.

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'Caught in the Revolution' by Helen Rappaport

The bestselling author of The Romanov Sisters continues the story with a multifaceted account of the 1917 Russian Revolution on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. The cast of characters on whom Rappaport's gripping and thoroughly-researched record draws hail not from the palaces or the upper echelons of government, but from all corners of civilian life that bore witness to this pivotal moment in history, bringing the streets and spirit of early-20th-century Petrograd to life on the page.

Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport, $21, amazon.com on February 7.

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'Darling, I'm Going to Charlie' by Maryse Wolinski

Written by the widow of Georges Wolinski, the late cartoonist killed in the 2015 terrorist attack on the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, this memoir recalls a 47-year romance while simultaneously exploring the sociopolitical issues of security and cross-cultural misunderstanding plaguing the Western world today. Herself a successful journalist in her own right, Wolinski's writing is at once commanding and impressively heartfelt, conveying to the reader at every turn the twin urgencies of her grief and her call to correct the gross human errors that led to such a catastrophic event of global significance.

Darling, I'm Going to Charlie by Maryse Wolinski, $22, amazon.com on February 7.

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'We Were The Lucky Ones' by Georgia Hunter

Inspired by the true story of her own grandfather's Holocaust survival, Hunter focuses her debut novel on a Jewish family living in Radom, Poland in the early days of the Great War as they are devastatingly torn apart—each family member forced intoexile, inhuman working conditions in the factories of Jewish ghettoes, or hiding while disguised as gentiles. It's a tale of resilience and commitment to one another amidst the direst of obstacles, its author just as courageous as the characters her writing will never let us forget.

We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter, $27, amazon.com on February 14.

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'The Schooldays of Jesus' by J.M. Coetzee

The Nobel Prize-winning South African author returns with the sequel to his 2013 novel The Childhood of Jesus, following the young protagonist David's boyhood and hesitant first steps in the world of dance. Through his intimate and fresh-eyed takes on the novelties and dangers of the adult world into which he is emerging, David explores grand-scale questions of human nature, the warring forces of heart and mind and forming one's identity in the world.

The Schooldays of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee, $20, amazon.com on February 21.

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'Flaneuse' by Lauren Elkin

Using city streets around the world—from New York and London to Paris and Tokyo—as her backdrop, Elkin revives the 20th-century figure of the flaneuse: the female version of the flaneur, the quintessentially masculine idler and observant bystander who channels his perceptions of the often minute aspects of his environment into material for his art. Following famous women from throughout history, including Virginia Woolf, Martha Gellhorn, George Sand and Patti Smith, Elkin's social history is both informative and irresistibly delightful.

The former Executive Assistant to President Ronald Reagan after his presidency provides a timely and revelatory reflection on the former president's conservative ideals, as we now usher in a new era of Republican leadership in America. Grande reveals her exciting path that began in Reagan's California office when she was just a college student and continued into the early 2000s. The author divulges never-before-revealed anecdotes about Reagan's personal and professional relationships, his groundbreaking political achievements, private affinities for comfort food and his Santa Barbara ranch, as well as his illness and eventual death in 2004.

The President Will See You Now by Peggy Grande, $25, amazon.com on February 21.

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'The Drifter' by Christine Lennon

A magazine veteran makes her fiction debut with this dark and thrilling ride through 1980s Southern sorority life and into the drug-laden world of New York City in the '90s and '00s, following protagonist Elizabeth and her two college friends as they make their way into adulthood while harboring a traumatic and shameful secret from their past.

In 1917, Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach set out to design an experiment that would capitalize on his working theory that what human beings see is a powerful indicator of our psychology—even of who we are. Searls combs through Rorschach's unpublished journals, letters and interviews to reveal in brilliant, captivating detail the historic development of those ten "inkblot" drawings that endure as a familiar component of our cultural discourse a century later.

Israeli screenwriter Gundar-Goshen's earth-shattering novel begins with a fatal accident, and protagonist Eitan spends the duration of the narrative grapplingwith unspeakable guilt and moral quandary as to how to redeem himself from his irreversible mistake. This story, set entirely within the context of the tragedy's aftermath, is one of the human urge to protect the family one has built at all costs, and of the unforeseen circumstances that can upend lives at any turn.

Walking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, $24, amazon.com on February 28.

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